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Posts Tagged ‘Maxim Cossette’
Acoustic Afternoon Series
Come one and all to the first edition of the Acoustic Afternoon Concert Series, this Saturday, January 9th (4pm) at the Rainbow Bistro.
Presented by Ottawa Tonite contributor and local character, Maxim Cossette. This “pay what you can” series will run every Saturday afternoon from 4pm- 7pm (except the last Saturday of the month) until the end of April. The aim is to bring you the best established and unknown, traditional and contemporary acoustic musicians from the Ottawa area.
Over the next few months, you’ll see Ottawa mainstays like Lefty McRighty and Amanda Rheaume, breakthrough artists like L. Poushinsky and Ken Voita as well as underground heros and future folk stars like John Aaron Cockburn and Kara Askwith.
So come celebrate the first concert in this bound-to-be-stellar succession of passionate performances and unforgettable moments.
For more information and artists profiles go to http://acousticafternoon.wordpress.com/
See you at the party!
-Maxim
Following the Passion of Sadie Hell
The days are short and heavy with lounge. Folks are caught in the vortex between Christmas and New Years. An impressive press release called me to the Canteen Art Shop and Gallery for a media presentation celebrating Sadie Hell’s new LP/CD. It’s my first media-only event and the experience is fascinating. This in-store concert featured a stripped down version of an ever-changing line up. The band gave an emotional performance to a gaggle of press people in front of a big beautiful banner. Soon you’ll be able to see video recorded by the good people at Bands Undone.
There are many different descriptions of Sadie Hell’s music, and they are all pretty bang on. The tunes feel symphonic at times, there’s some grunge, some emo and Ben Welland’s self-confessed love for dirty skate punk even comes through at times. While waiting in line to interview Sadie Hell, I stumbled across a coffee table book about the Obey Andre the Giant logo. The creator was simply having fun with stickers at first and eventually it grew into an international brand. On Obey’s website. I found some interesting information pertaining to Sadie Hell: Heidegger describes Phenomenology as: ” the process of letting things manifest themselves, The FIRST AIM OF PHENOMENOLOGY is to re-awaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment.”
Sadie Hell is phenomenology to a ‘T’. Some years ago, Welland recognized his innate talent and allowed it to grow, taking on wild shapes, sounds and momentum. The timbre and tonal qualities of his music are constantly shifting, but the vocals and guitar work remain unmistakably, Sadie Hell. It’s a brand that’s becoming more recognizable, associated not with a particular sound, but with a distinctive feeling.
During the interview, Ben and May-Jun came across as passionate and intelligent musicians. They love what they do and give over their whole hearts to the process. Ben speaks of dark lyrics and somber messages, but comes across as quite a happy person. He recognizes the allure in all things dark while not letting it consume him. Influenced by the rock and roll tradition of despair and gloom, he understands the disillusionment of the Smashing Pumpkins and it’s his pleasure to further the notion that this world is a dark and scary place sometimes. The result is a quest for expression that is a riveting journey through growth and destruction, love and pain, melancholy and the joy which is created when we follow our passions.
Here’s my interview with Ottawa’s newest phenomenon, Sadie Hell…
Maxim also blogs here: http://maximk7.blogspot.com/
The Sin Sisters Charity Benefit – A First Person Account
The Elmdale Tavern was buzzing on Wednesday December 16th.
The luscious ladies of Ottawa’s very own burlesque troupe, the Sin Sisters, were putting on their first annual holiday bash in support of Toy Mountain. The feeling in the air before a burlesque show, (and a Christmas burlesque show at that!) is similar to that of the illustrious third date. There’s anticipation, the apparent effort put into choosing outfits and the not-so-discreet signals that there’s much unwrapping to be done later on.
The show opened up with Patsy Clash and Lefty McRighty of local alt-country band Ninety Pounds of Ugly, whose debut album, Richmond Motel Room 3, was voted Best Country Album of 2009 in the Ottawa Xpress reader’s poll. Replete with hideous holiday sweaters and an ever so endearing veneer of cheer, the duo did away with their usual racy content about shooting people who drive too slowly and tongue in cheek sexual references to offer heartfelt holiday carols.
After years of performing together, Patsy and Lefty have developed a precise sense of harmony that injected new life into the cannon of Christmas classics. Their cheeseball grins and corny banter easily won over the slightly soused audience. They even had this practicing Satanist singing along to Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer – hey, I’ll take any opportunity to shout in the middle of a song. A new sense of sweetness and vulnerability radiated from these two old friends of mine; Patsy shared stories about warming her feet on the dash of her mom’s old Honda and Lefty showed true jubilation at locating a misplaced guitar capo. It was a Christmas miracle!
I quite enjoyed the exposed inner-workings of this pair, who have only been playing together for two years. Since they were performing songs they’d only recently arranged and prepared, they publicly asked each other when to end the tunes and who should sing which part. Their ongoing communication, while seemingly amateurish, was always enjoyed by the audience and their on-the-fly decisions resulted in clean playing with tight changes and crisp endings. It was the sign of a collaboration that has evolved into a cohesive unit. They’re reaching the point where they almost know what each other is thinking. I predict great things ahead for Ninety Pounds of Ugly. Good luck in the new year.
After a quick break, yours truly took the stage. I took the opportunity to explain that the celebration of winter solstice is a Pagan tradition that preceded Christianity and Judaism by thousands of years. The evergreen that we all seem to worship this time of year is the perfect symbol of Mother Earth’s consistent vitality. Someone shouted out, “Just like the Yule Log!”, which apparently has its tradition in Germanic Pageantry. These days, light is scarce, so it’s important to come together at events like this, to share warmth, good will, and of course, drink.
The audience agreed.
I performed my standard fare of blues, rockabilly, swing, country and jazz, throwing in Auld Lang Syne and Jingle Bells in for good measure. The Elmdale is one of my favorite venues in the city as a performer and observer. The acoustics and sound system are top notch, the staff is friendly and when I’m there, I feel like I’ve traveled back in time to a genuine 50′s tavern (except that they now allow women in, which I whole-heartedly approve of). I got a great reaction from the crowd when I performed an instrumental piece called Miss Maggie Sue Shuffle. As usual, they went pretty wild at my rendition of I Wanna be Like You, of Jungle Book fame. The crowd grew more and more excited, despite the fact that I didn’t take my clothes off this time around. I’m afraid my lack of undressing may have let some people down. I found out later that one of the nicknames for me floating around the city is “Naked Max”. Hmmm….maybe I’m getting older?
After my set, I was approached by a number of well-wishers with kind words. One gentleman asked about purchasing the rights so my songs can be used in movies that he works on. This opportunity could garner exposure for me and finance future recording projects. The music business has many intricate tenents. I look forward to exploring them all.
Finally came the main attraction.
The Sin Sisters have come a long way since their lewd dancing days with my psychobilly band the Sick Sick Sicks about a year and a half ago. Since then, the troupe has expanded to some seven or so members, performing all types of on-stage artistry. A large pile of presents was stacked on stage while a Betty Page look-alike in red pajamas carefully examined each package. The boxes were opened with joy, revealing lustful clothing. The girls went on to perform classic seduction, teasing and talent; Santa outfits, Hawaiian grass skirts and balloon popping were all captivating and enticing elements of this illicit pageant. A risqué holiday poem and some musical numbers offered variety to this mischievous and delightful evening.
Ladies, thanks for putting on such an awesome night and reminding everyone that getting naked in public can be, under the right circumstances, a class act.
- Maxim
Stumbling upon a reading: “Up the Ottawa Without Despair”
It’s Thursday, December 17th and I find myself at the Raw Sugar Cafe, it’s on Somerset, half a block West of Bronson. Mary Clayton’s soul infused version of “Southern Man” pumps through the room at an agreeable volume as crisp dressed women and men settle and chat in this cozy, eclectic room.
Tonight launches the fifth chapter of local writer Brendan McNally’s novel, “Up the Ottawa Without Despair”. Scavenging the internet for fun things to do tonight, I stumbled upon this event listing on Ottawatonite.com and know precious little about the show. However, I had the honor of being a member of the first musical act to grace this cherished venue, so I’m always game frequenting this cool establishment.
Familiar faces start to pop out of the crowd and I recognize one of the names on the poster. I’ve seen Amanda Abdelhadi perform comedy before and she was quite funny. Dave O’Meara, it turns out, is the same lanky, lovable Dave who serves at the Manx. A few years ago I worked at the Manx and while slicing a bucket of potatoes I happened upon a news clipping about the Gord Downie using some of Dave’s poetry as lyrics. We had a good chat about it and my esteem grew for this warm and humble man.
I see a distinctive gentleman standing in the middle of the room, he must be Brendan. He has one of those faces like Vince Halfhide, not esthetically speaking, but in the way that it’s so recognizable, it’s a pillar of the Ottawa arts community, like a living totem pole.
The peppermint tea soothes my smoke and coffee ravaged throat while approving glances fall from this community of writers as I scribble away in my black leather bound notebook. Right on time, the show starts and Sandra Ridley goes up first. Images of lush vegetation swirl with feminine body parts, all being grounded by the thick roots and good love of an old tree. Her words conjure instances of spontaneous growth intertwined with brittle death, sprouting from ragged decay. I wish I had the written version of the work in front of me, so I could pick it apart with a dictionary, meticulously cherishing each delicate beat. Soon her smooth delivery carries me away, I learn to sit back and allow her jagged yet soothing atmospheres to be formed in my mind. Ephemeral environments and mythic characters sway to bouncing rhythms, creating gritty and fantastic moments, then they slip away as she starts her next poem. The crowd gobbles up every morsel and I wish she was on for longer.
Dave is up next, apparently he has a hearty list of laurels and as soon as he goes into his first selection, the deservedness of his recognitions is made apparent. Dave echos the simple mastery of Denis Leary, if Denis were taking on all forms of perturbing and sometimes volatile subject matter. “Power Boat” is about a real life English boat racer who had a horrible boating accident, went into a coma, legally died twice, got upset when paramedics had to cut open her brazier and then went on to do more racing. His work is inspired by things he reads and the result is a varied examination of individual struggles and triumphs from all over the world. His work offers moments of dissonant thought patterns framed by the tempestuous anxieties of teenage reality. Every thursday between 6:30 and 7pm, you can hear Dave on CKCU, he hosts a show called Literary Landscape. Chatting with Dave, I find a man sustaining a high level of creative output. The result is ever improving work and increasing visibility. He tells me that being a poet doesn’t always pay very well, but it has it’s perks. He was invited to read at a writers festival in Orkin, found in the Yorkie Islands of Northern Scotland. A recent highlight was an on-stage interview with Nick Cave at the local St. Brigid’s writer’s festival.
Seeing Brendan’s face around the city for so long, it’s a pleasant shock to hear a soft but striking Irish accent escape from his lips. The reading series was created to expose his new novel, Up the Ottawa Without Despair and to raise money for a much needed dental operation. His demeanor is of measured exuberance, cracking one cornball joke after another as his stories expose us to the beautiful aspects of all things low and dirty. The first selection hits a nerve with my personal history; it’s a first person narrative about a young, poor but intelligent and sensitive man hitchhiking up from Ottawa to Wakefield and back, before that quaint little town was the tourist destination it is today. A reference to “The Outsiders”, is paired with the brutal reality of the entrenched violence in poor Lowertown. Flowery writing this is not, gritty displays of raw, bright life are juxtaposed with bleak hopelessness and sorrow. His dismantling of the Santa Clause myth is a piece of disgruntled holiday magic. The debunking of St Nick’s soft power culminates as a hung over, self-described hater of children takes on the roll of mall Santa. Amanda Abdelhadi contributes back-up voice acting, creating much appreciated layers of comedy. I liked it when the stoned elf was giggling.
DJ Eric Komosol playes tasty tracks as a musical bed to Brendan’s dynamic performance; smooth jazz and deep soul are the grooves of the evening. Enlisting DJ Eric for the party was a wise decision, he made excellent song choices, had smooth transitions and helped created that quintessential book-party atmosphere. If you ever need a good DJ for a party, look him up.
All and all it was an enthralling and thought provoking evening with plenty of humor and good tidings.
There’s something special about accomplished and talented authors presenting a vocalized rendition of their written work. Hearing distinctive emphasis, interjection and pauses, creates an über-intimate, utterly unique experience. Nadia has created an inviting environment of the Raw Sugar which nourishes and encourages all varieties of artistic expression. So go to the Raw Sugar whenever it’s open, especially next month, when Brendan presents chapter six of the house band series.
I look forward to seeing you there.
-Maxim
Maxim also blogs: http://maximk7.blogspot.com/
Get under the mistletoe with the Sin Sisters – Christmas Benefit
Looking to get an early start on bulking up your Christmas karma? The Sin Sisters are hosting a fundraiser party for Toy Mountain , Wednesday December 16th at the Elmdale House Tavern .
The Sin Sisters, a local burlesque, go-go and variety show, will perform burlesque routines as well as song and dance, all with a festive bent. Musical guests include Lefty McRighty and Patsy Clash from Ninety Pounds of Ugly and Maxim.
There’ll also be an abundance of mistletoe on hand, and all the fellas and gals can buy kisses from the Sin Sisters, to help beef up the proceeds.
Toy Mountain is a local charity that collects new toys and gives them to less fortunate children at Christmas time. You’ve probably seen their donation booths at various shopping malls around the city. For Wednesday’s show, the cost of admission is a new, unwrapped toy.
If you can’t make it out to Toys R Us before the show, they’ll be accepting cash donations as well (minimum donation is $5), and the girls will do the shopping for you with the proceeds.
The show starts at 9pm sharp, be there on time to get a good seat right up front.”
Wednesday, December 16th -9:00 PM
($5 or Toy Donation)
Greg Harris can also be found here: http://www.leftymcrighty.com/
